Micah,

For what it's worth, I too was in a similar position as you. I can tell you I have over 4000 cubic feet of space I had to fill with sound, all hardwood floors, open floor plan, and concrete tile in the dining area. I lease my house and I have absolutely nothing on the walls.

I also researched speakers for about 3 months & had about $2000.00 to spend. I had an old set of boston acoustics A100's I purchased about 20 years ago and I wanted to be 100% sure this would be my last speaker purchase for years to come. I had read almost all the forums, even the "bright" issue on the M80's. I was very close to getting Salk song towers (glad I didn't) due to "the thread" on another forum as well as reviews. But, I took the chance and for what I wanted to spend, I could get the M80's and the EP350 sub.

Now, I am definitely 90% music / 10% HT, so I was really focused on 2.1 channel listening. Just one man's opinion here, but over a month later I cannot tell you how totally happy I am with my purchase. From my past posts, you will see that speaker placement was critical for me.

With my room the way it is, I have never perceived my system as bright or harsh. Even today I read about this speaker and that speaker and how great they are, etc, etc. All I can say is I personally have no buyers remorse whatsoever. I could have easily sent them back for something else, but why? I was happy, I was blown away by my new system, and "for me" & "my ears", I just felt I wasn't going to do any better for the money. Over a month later I still can't wait to get home from work and crank up the M80's \:\)

"IMO of course"

Dana

M80's, QS8's, M22's, CHT SHO-10, Dual CHT SS-18.1's, Onkyo NR3008, Mitsubishi WD-73740